by J. Okuly
I jumped from the table and grabbed my phone. I sent a text to my mom and one to my brother Steve. He was attending law school at the University of Texas and he lived with my mom.
I brought the phone to the table and stared at it. The ringer was on but as I continued to eat my soup there was no ding to let me know I had a text message waiting.
Everyone seemed to be watching my phone, and I knew we were all thinking the same thing. What in the world was going on?
That evening we settled in the living room. The atmosphere resembled a camp-out … not. We weren't ignoring our comfortable beds because we felt like being chummy with each other. Instead, it was because we sensed there was both courage and safety in numbers. I didn't want to be away from the group because my bedroom seemed too far away from other humans. I assumed the rest of my friends felt the same way because no one slept in their own bed. Rebecca slept on the sofa and Bonnie on the love seat because she was so petite, she could fit almost anywhere. We pulled out extra sleeping bags and I made a note to take them with us with us when we departed the house the next day. You could never have too many sleeping bags.
Kitty sat at the dining room table and tried to get her computer to work. We had the TV muted because there was nothing but static on the screen. We kept it on in the hopes that the missing channels would return from the channel graveyard where they had disappeared. There was nothing on TV except a fuzzy gray screen, not even the legendary emergency broadcast system.
Nova lay next to me and I occupied myself talking to Mark because I wasn't sleepy. He volunteered for the first watch and I convinced him to teach me what he knew about guns. As a rule, I was a total pacifist and didn't believe in violence in any way, shape, or form. But these were not normal times. The world was acting kooky and I knew it would get worse. I had nothing to base this assumption on. But if Murphy's Law had taught me anything, it was that if the worst thing could happen, it would.
Mark showed me how to load the Glock and the small 22 he owned.
“Did you kill people when you were in the military?” I asked.
“Yep. Part of the job.”
I could tell from his clipped tone that he did not want to talk about this part of his life. But he had no problem talking about school.
“I had Dr. Parker for Biology 101,” he said. “I never saw you in that class.”
“Well, there were four hundred people in the auditorium. I didn't knew the people who sat on the same row as me. You and I could have passed each other and never even noticed.”
“I'm sure I would have remembered if I'd seen you. You're not a girl someone could forget.”
I lowered my gaze. Why had I thought he was a geek in a golf cart? He was anything but that.
He lifted a brow. “What are you smiling at?”
“Oh nothing.” I was silent a beat. “I thought you were a different kind of person when I first met you.”
“Hmm.....let me guess. Have you seen that movie Observe and Report? Did you see me as some sort of Seth Rogan idiot who rode around in a golf cart doing nothing but messing up everything?”
I laughed because this was very close to my first impression of him. I blamed the entertainment industry for that one.
We talked until I felt sleepy and had a hard time keeping my eyes open.
“Go to sleep,” he said. “You're dead on your feet.”
“Don't say that.” I yawned. “This is not the time to use the word dead.”
“Sorry.”
I curled up in the sleeping bag and it seemed like only a moment later when Kitty's scream shattered my sleep.
“We have internet!” she yelled.
I jumped up faster than a jack rabbit chased out of his burrow and then headed for the dining room table. Everyone else did the same thing except for Swagger who seemed able to sleep through anything.
Kitty clicked on the yahoo icon. Every story from around the world was about the Chomper Phenomenon as they were calling it. From Alaska to Zaire, people were howling at the moon and chomping their teeth. It seemed the entire world had gone mad. Scientists were interviewed and questioned, and their brains picked as they had never been picked before.
The consensus seemed to be:
No one knew what caused the phenomenon or how to stop it.
No one knew what immune people had in common.
No one knew what the Chompers had in common or why they had turned into whatever they had turned into.
“Wow, it's everywhere,” said Kitty. “And no one knows anything.”
“Send an email,” I said. “Before we lose the signal. Send it to all our families and tell them we're safe and heading to Austin when the traffic gets better.”
Kitty sent the email. Within minutes we received replies from all the families, as if they had been sitting around waiting to hear from us.
“They're going through the same thing we are,” said Bonnie. “And they don't know what to do.”
“We're in the same boat,” said Kitty. “We have to wait and see what happens tomorrow.”
I tried my phone but there was still no signal and I hadn't received any texts while I slept.
Kitty moved the mouse around and clicked. “Here's something new.”
A reporter from CNN was speaking. “According to our affiliates, we're witnessing a new occurrence with this phenomenon.”
The camera shifted away from him and we saw that it was pouring rain in the African village where he stood. People were standing in the rain as if they were statues. They looked up at the sky but they didn't move.
The news report shifted to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where it was also raining. Again, people stood in the freezing rain staring up at the sky looking very much like human statues.
“Oy, what's this?” Swagger finally showed up and staggered to the computer.
“How long can they stare up at the sky without drowning?” I asked. “Most of them have their mouths open.”
No one answered because no one knew.
Mark finally said, “If enough water gets in their lungs, I guess they could drown.”
“What if they're already dead?” said Rebecca.” The fear in her voice chilled me. “What if they died the moment they changed?”
“No way,” said Kitty. “They're not dead, at least not yet. This is some kind of behavior modification brought on by something. It could be a virus controlling their movements.”
“Since when does a virus control movement?” I said. “This isn't The Strain.”
“It could be similar.”
The broadcast shifted to Louisiana where widespread flooding was taking place. The water was up to the Chompers' knees but still they didn't move. Not an inch.
“This is terrifying,” said Bonnie. “If the flooding continues, they will die.”
We watched the same reports coming from different parts of the world. Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana flooded. The fast-moving water slammed into the Chompers and they disappeared from view. Bonnie began to sob, but I was in shock and I couldn't cry for them. I still believed they were already dead and had been since the very beginning. Why were we immune? Why had our families not changed? Would any of us begin to change in the future? Goosebumps ran the length of my arms and I rubbed them with icy hands. Then I felt myself engulfed in Mark's warm jacket and his strong hands were on my shoulders.
With her characteristic way of reading my mind, Kitty said, “Okay, once again what do we all have in common? What is it that kept us from changing? There must be a reason.”
Rebecca frowned. “We went through this already.”
“No,” said Kitty. “Everyone who didn't turn into a Chomper must have something in common. We need to find out what it is.”
“And what good will that do us?” said Rebecca. “Does it even matter at this point?”
None of us spoke.
Thunder boomed in the distance. The crash was deafening to my frayed nerves, and it might have been the loudest thunder I had ever hear
d. Then the universe splintered in two, the power went out, and darkness descended upon us.
Chapter 4
We had located every candle in the house before we lost power. Mark had some sort of high tech flashlight which was so bright it blinded you if you were crazy enough to stare at it. We lit all the candles and lined them up on the kitchen counter like small soldiers waiting for the opportunity to join the battle.
“We should conserve some of these,” said Kitty. “We don't need much light.”
“I agree,” said Mark. “We'll need them later.”
So we blew out most of the candles and I stuffed them in my backpack. Mark turned off his flashlight and we looked out the front window as the rain descended from heaven. There were no crazies lurking around our house so we avoided watching them stand in the rain until they drowned … if it was possible for them to drown.
We settled down to sleep again and Kitty volunteered to take the next watch.
“I'm so wired I couldn't sleep if I tried,” she said.
Mark dragged his sleeping bag next to mine. He placed his Glock and his super strong flashlight next to his head.
“Goodnight.” I gave him a sleepy smile.
The next thing I knew it was morning. Judging from the intensity of the sunlight, it was late morning. I looked over at the clock and saw I was correct.
I sat up and stretched my arms over my head.
“Good morning Sugarplum Princess.” It was Bonnie's favorite endearment for me.
“Good morning Sugar-Rita.” My endearment for her. “How did you sleep?”
“Okay I guess.” She yawned. “I relieved Rebecca on the watch after she relieved Kitty sometime last night.”
“You want coffee?” I asked.
“Make gallons of it.”
I started the coffee and checked my phone. Still no signal. At least the power had come back on. I saw that the 22 was in my backpack with a sticky note stuck to it. It was one of the notes we used for shopping lists.
It's unloaded but when you're ready I have bullets.
Mark
I noticed that even though the gun wasn't loaded, the safety was on. I smiled as I looked down at Mark's sleeping face. He looked much younger while he slept.
The view from the window boasted a bright, gorgeous day after last night's monsoon. The wind slammed against the trees and I thought this was good kite-flying weather. I wondered if our local Chompers were standing around looking up at the sky as they were doing in the rest of the world.
Bonnie bustled about in the kitchen making cheese omelets and juevos rancheros. These were two of my favorites. She fried three packs of bacon and slid bread into the toaster.
“Might as well use up the perishables while we can,” she said. “We can take the cooked bacon and toast with us to make sandwiches.”
I took Nova outside to use the potty. She didn't like wet paws so she jumped around like hot grease on a skillet. When she did her business, she raced inside. I fed her breakfast and gave her a few pieces of bacon as an extra treat.
I blew a kiss to Bonnie since she didn't like anyone to touch her. She looked at me in surprise.
“What was that for?” she asked.
“To thank you for cooking. You're gonna spoil us.”
Besides the English muffins, there were tortillas on the grill and pico de gallo for the juevos rancheros.
“A full Texas breakfast,” she said, “ I'm a short-order cook.”
“Don't I know it.”
When everyone finally climbed out of bed, we ate breakfast and drank a ton of coffee. Then we packed up the sleeping bags and all the non-perishable food we could stuff into the SUV. Everyone showered and changed, except for Swagger who had no extra clothes. His slight form was almost the same size as Rebecca so he borrowed jeans from her and one of her black t-shirts.
“I guess I'll go commando,” he said. “I don't have an extra pair of knickers.”
Mark glared at him. “Too much information.”
“I have some boy-cut panties,” said Rebecca. “You can borrow them.”
“Too much information!” Mark and I said in unison and we both laughed.
We were ready to hit the road and I made a mental checklist of anything we had forgotten to pack. The only thing we didn't have was extra fuel for the car, but there were gas stations lined up all the way to Austin. If they ran out of gas, that would be a different story. I wouldn't think about that contingency because it was too awful to contemplate.
I drove out of the garage and into a new world where Chompers might soon be the dominant species.
Chapter 5
We didn't see any crazies until we got closer to the college. What we did see were plenty of looted buildings. Shattered storefront windows lined Jefferson Boulevard. These included grocery stores, home improvement stores, and convenience stores. Even fast food restaurants weren't immune. When we neared the U, I spotted a girl standing on a front lawn as still as a stone as she stared up at the sky. Then I saw another. And another. As we got closer to the university, they were everywhere.
“Stop the car!” said Swagger.
I looked at him in the rear-view mirror. “Why?”
I heard him open the back door open so I slammed on my brakes. He jumped out of the SUV and ran up to a frozen crazy standing on the sidewalk. The guy's mouth was open and his pale face tilted up to the heavens.
“Oy mate!” Swagger yelled in the guy's face. “What's wrong with you people?”
The guy didn't even blink.
Swagger threw the weight of his body against the statue guy. The dude fell over sideways and slammed onto the sidewalk. There was nothing to break his fall and he lay there on the ground without moving. His facial expression had not changed. He still looked like a mannequin.
Swagger ran to another frozen guy and pushed him over. There was a loud whack when his body hit the sidewalk. Not a pretty sound, but there was no reaction from the statue guy.
“Swagger, stop it!” I yelled at him through the window. “You're going to hurt someone!”
“Hurt someone?” He looked at me with an incredulous look on his face. “They're not even alive! They're not breathing!”
Kitty jumped out of the car and then we all followed her.
She opened her purse and took out a small compact mirror. She slid it under the nose of the guy who lay at Swagger's feet. A moment later, she checked the mirror.
“There's nothing,” she said in a shaky voice. “The mirror is not fogging up.”
Mark licked his finger and put it under the frozen guy's nose. “There's no air touching my finger.”
“This is crazy!” I said as I balanced on the edge of a panic attack. It was like sliding down a knife blade. I knew I could fall off the knife in either direction … or get sliced in two by the sharp blade. Hysteria nipped at me like tiny gremlins biting my toes. I wasn't about to bet the farm I could hold it together much longer. I took a deep breath. Would I lose it and start screaming?
“These people can't be dead,” I said. “Dead of what?”
“Airborne virus?” Kitty lifted her mirror away from the statue guy's nose. She walked over to a girl who was standing in front of a bus stop. She tried the mirror trick again and it gave the same results.
“What airborne virus?' I spread my arms wide. “If there was a dad-gum airborne virus, we'd be dead by now!”
“You're a nurse.” Her voice was firm. “Check it yourself. These people are dead.”
“No!” I couldn't wrap my mind around this because it was too … frickin' … much.
Mark grabbed my shoulders. “Look at me. Focus only on me. Hold it together soldier.”
The incongruity of his words diverted me away from the encroaching panic. I focused on his greenish-bluish eyes. “Sea green,” I said, “Aquamarine. More green than blue.”
“What?” he said.
“I can't express what shade of blue-green your eyes are. Or is it called a hue?”
> I shook my head and came back to the real world. I took a step away from him in time to see Nova pulling on the hem of a frozen girl's skirt with her teeth. It was as if my dog needed confirmation these people weren't playing dead … they really were dead.
I ran after her. “Nova, stop it!”
Once I got Nova back into the SUV, my friends approached me and we shared a group hug.
“I'm sorry.” I buried my head in the safety of the group. “I lost it for a moment.”
Mark looked at me with concern.
Kitty turned to him. “She has PTSD.”
I glared at her. “Why did you tell him?”
“He needs to know,” she said. “We're all in this together and we need to depend on each other.”
I couldn't look at Mark but I felt his gaze on me. I had wanted to share this with him, but it had never seemed to be the right time.
His voice was quiet when he spoke. “I've seen it before Gigi. You're not alone. It's a big club.”
Without a word, we got back in the SUV.
“Do you want me to drive?” Mark spoke in a low voice so the others couldn't hear us.
I shook my head. “No. This is therapeutic and it focuses my mind on something other than....than those people out there.”
Those dead people
“Do you need me to drive?” asked Swagger from the back seat. “In case you have another fit or whatever.”
I clenched my teeth. “I'm fine, but thank you.”
Mark turned around. “Swagger, why don't you give your mouth a rest?”
“Why don't you bugger off before I hit you in the head.”
“Try it and there'll be only two hits in that fight,” said Mark. “The first one is when I hit you; the second one is when you hit the ground.”
Swagger swallowed. “You don't scare me.”
Mark narrowed his eyes. “Swagger, I'll hit you so hard your grandchildren won't have any teeth.”
Swagger mumbled something under his breath and Mark turned back to face the road.
I smiled to myself. I liked that Mark had stood up for me even though I was capable of standing up for myself.
